penguin – Page 40 – Fooyah

November 16 2016October 13 2018

Sometimes, It Happens

I’ve become quite philosophical about traffic jams. Rather than get annoyed and irritated I now realise there’s little I can do and so I relax. It is highly unlikely that I will lose lots of money through a traffic jam [being late for an appearance on Dragon’s Den maybe] and it is also rare that I have to be somewhere at a very particular time. As I work in education you might consider that I should be at work for the start of the day and normally I am there with plenty of time to get a coffee, do some photocopying and prioritise my emails.

This morning was a little different. Maidstone is updating and improving the bridges gyratory in the centre of town. This means that occasionally they have to close the roads overnight so they can get the work done. This morning they failed to get the road cured on time and so there was a delay in opening Fairmeadow, possibly the most important through road in Maidstone.

This delay meant the two lane traffic was heading around the prison which is a single lane carriageway. Thus there ensued chaos. Well, not literal chaos but lots of cars going into not a lot of space and therefore lots of congestion.

It took me ninety five minutes to drive eight miles, the first four of those I covered in about ten minutes, the rest was Maidstone. I am happy to accept these delays as the improvements to the junctions will be worth it. Also, the extra time in the car gave me more time to listen to the Skepticrat podcast. Warning, there’s swearing a-plenty in this podcast and it’s political with a liberal bias. What else would you expect?

My general thoughts on traffic jams are that they normally mean someone is having a far worse day than you. Relax, there’s nothing you can do.

To give you an idea of the traffic chaos here’s a shot from Google maps:

I am going to find another map for you, possibly a larger version with a little more detail, but it would serve you well to see a version of a “normal” morning to compare, so I intend to do that also.

So, having said that here is a map of today, the next day, a day when the roads are working “normally”. Here you go, enjoy:

November 7 2016November 7 2016

Nocturnal Animals

Last night I moseyed to the Cineworld cinema at Rochester. I went to the Nocturnal Animals. When I booked this film I didn’t know anything about the film, I hadn’t seen a trailer and so took a punt with this one. There were two possible options for a film to see, Nocturnal Animals and The Accountant, upon inspecting the IMDB critics scores I decided to see the better one. I pay no attention to the scores given by cinema goers, oh the irony, it is clear that the public have no idea what is good for them as recent events will attest. Whenever the shout for power to the people is raised you just have to remember that Mr Blobby was christmas number one once. So, here’s my IMDB rating:

I rated Nocturnal Animals (2016) 8/10 #IMDb https://t.co/AnoKi6raiU

— Ian Parish (@iparish) November 6, 2016

As is expected you should see this communication for an explanation of how my scoring system works.

I enjoyed this film. It was the second recent film to be set in West Texas and I’m now not sure if it is a place I would want to visit. Everyone out there seems strange. The opening of this film was interesting especially as I didn’t know a thing about it. The film was billed as a stylish and absorbing psychological noir thriller. I’m not entirely sure it was all that. It seemed more to be about a very sad woman who hates her life. The film was clever but not brilliantly so and the book that the main character reads comes to life in the film we see.

I’m going to do my best to not give any spoilers as I write this. There wasn’t any particular part of the film where I thought it was stupid or wanted to moan about it so that’s a good thing. I need to try and see real films more often, I think I have seen too many action or super hero films and they are a strange distortion of the cinema world. I don’t mind science fiction so much but they often do too much, they bend the rules so far [fine] and then SF films tend to do something silly and break the rules. I’m not sure that makes sense, whoops.

I probably would watch this film again. Amy Adams is pretty good and manages to show emotion without a great deal of verbal communication. The naked bum was a major motif throughout the film and the graphic matches were well done. It was a well made and constructed movie. I would like to think I would spot more “clever” stuff the second time around. Assuming there is a lot of clever stuff.

At one time the writer says that all writers write about themselves, what else can they know. It turns out this film director, Tom Ford, used to be a fashion designer. The film clearly states that this world and the world of art is superficial and bollocks. That seems perfectly reasonable to me.

November 6 2016October 18 2017

PSVR

On October the 13th the Playstation Virtual Reality headset was released and I had ordered a set. I wanted to experience an immersive game and be able to look around the world properly.

I was very excited although it took a little while to set this up as there was a new unit to be powered and cables. None of the cable work was onerous which was what a BBC report had suggested, in fact the BBC report was bollocks, very annoying. The reporter ended with the statement “I just wish it was wireless”. This in a device that needs power and two sets of HDMI cables for the screens. Anyway the experience was pretty good, the headset was comfortable and the headphones worked fine.

There was a mild sense of unease and sickness but I thought that would pass so I bought the game Drive Club VR. This downloaded and I was looking forward to driving around in the headset. I managed about 2 laps of a 3 lap race and the sickness hit me. Badly. I felt rough. Now this coincided with a bout of quite harsh cold so I decided to wait a couple of weeks and see how it affected me once I was better.

It was the same. I felt ill after about two laps. Now, I am quite susceptible to motion sickness; I don’t like ferries and aerobatics can make me incredibly ill but is always worth it. However, this time I knew I wouldn’t get any better at the PSVR and so I decided to get rid of it. There is no point me having this reasonably expensive piece of kit when I can use it minimally.

However, GT Sport will be released soon and my steering wheel set up isn’t PS4 compatible and so now I had some cash to buy a new wheel. There was only one to go for and that is the Logitech G29 with gear shift stick. It arrived today.

This took a short while to set up on the steering wheel system but was completed and then some GT6 played. The stick shift doesn’t work with GT6 but the flappy paddles were fine. There is quite a refined feel with this wheel.

I then connected it to the PS4 and played Drive Club and used the stick shift and clutch. That was good fun and I am looking forward to playing some more when my USB extension cable comes. The one connecting the wheel to the PS4 is a little short.

November 6 2016February 18 2020

Dodd

This is another in the occasional series of mountains conquered. On a Sunday morning I awoke and headed out from Keswick to Dodd Woods to the east of Bassenthwaite Lake. This peak is a western foothill of Skiddaw range and not too high at 1612 feet or 491 metres which makes it number 174 of the Wainwrights.

This peak had a very clear footpath all the way and was a nice little walk. It is one of the last strongholds of the red squirrel and a good vantage point to see ospreys of the feathered kind when they are in this country.

View from near the summit of Dodd with Derwentwater and Bassenthwaite Lake

There’s a monument at the top of Dodd to two scout leaders.

November 6 2016

Mille

This is communication number One Thousand. This one kinda snuck up on me, I had noticed over the summer that I was close and then forgot for a while but I have been thinking about what to write here for about a month and had absolutely no clue. A lot of this communication is repeated somewhere else within this site as it seems sensible for some reflection of: Operation Parish On The Web.

I am often amused by the response at work to the phrase “on my website”. The response is often “you have a website?”. I’m not entirely sure why the response is phrased that way, because, as becomes clear, the responder often uses Faceshit loads. What is Faceshit other than a way for everyone to have a presence on the web. A method for letting their friends know what they are up to? A way of publicly displaying the version of us who we want people to see. Faceshit is easy. It’s something I don’t really do.

I started editing web pages in 1994 when I was involved with Imperial College Union. I maintain the pages for the student union for about six months. After that I did nothing until around 1999 when I decided to have a web site. I have owned the following domains over the years:

www.ianparish.me.uk

www.iparish.org.uk

I used those in the days before social media. I have used various programs for creating the code including Frontpage, which I hated. Over time I wanted to have a domain name that actually meant something to me rather than just my name. Hence Fooyah.net you can see why I chose that here. This website was started in June 2011. Initially I tried to use Joomla and while I could see how it worked I couldn’t spend that amount of time to get it right and wanted something a little more user friendly. I chose WordPress and have used that ever since. My very first communication is linked here it’s not very interesting.

My general policies on this website are:

Write stuff about what I do
Write stuff about what I think
Write whatever I want about nerdy stuff
Not to include “state of mind” information
Not to write about emotions and shit
Not to delete anything, but to openly edit if necessary
I will use the language that reflects who I am

As with all web-based stuff this site only really shows the part of me I am happy having in the public domain. I am acutely aware of the fact that anyone can look at this site and draw whatever conclusions about me that they want. I don’t really include family stuff directly, I don’t really moan about work and I try not to slag off individuals. I will try to defend my position on things but I’m not very eloquent at that. Reading this is like reading the stream of my consciousness and that doesn’t often make for easy comprehension. But, what you see is what you get.

Sometimes in the history of this site my general well-being can be inferred by the type and number of communications but then sometimes I don’t publish much because I just don’t have the time. I am able to look over this site and see how I have been and those close to me can figure it out. Everyone goes through rough times in their life and this public web thing means we don’t show that. You can read this and figure out my quite obvious views on religion, science and politics but you shan’t know me!

Earlier I wrote the word Faceshit. That particular social media site is one that I don’t regularly use. It disturbs me somewhat at how ubiquitous it is. There’s an awful lot of information out there on people who possibly wouldn’t want that out there. I like to think that I’m reasonably with it, and when a new service starts I tend to investigate it and then decide if it will add anything to my life, normally it won’t so I don’t bother with it. I have communication routes with my friends through different methods and these work for me:

Rich – twitter, Fooyah and meeting up
Jase – phone and meeting up
Jim, Andy and Daryl – Whatsapp
Andy – Twitter and Fooyah
Jo – Twitter
Mazza – meeting up
Andrew – text

[Not all friends listed, don’t be offended if you aren’t there] A lot of my friends aren’t on Faceshit I guess that makes it easier [also, I have too many friends named Andrew perhaps I’ll have to cull one!]. I do have a Facebook account, not in my name but I use it to follow a couple of groups who don’t have a presence anywhere else. This annoys me a little but I guess FB is convenient for a lot of people. My twitter account was started to follow more information about Formula One and it grew for me into a more political resource.

So, more stuff, about me. My views, my thoughts [edited for public consumption]. When I started this site I wrote this about me:

Geeky maths teacher who likes motorsport, NFL, cricket, film, proper music and PS3.
Like Battlestar Galactica and West Wing, Megadeth and AC/DC, New Orleans Saints, Miami Dolphins, Essex and England cricket.

This is what my Twitter profile said originally and I didn’t update it for a long time. I have recently changed it to the following:

Geeky, sweary, skeptical maths teacher who likes NFL, motorsport, aggrotech, PlayStation, running, planes and science. Kinda fascinated by everything.

This seems more appropriate for the recent me. People and tastes change over time and this is me at the moment. I’m sure it’ll change again, slowly as I discover more about this world. I am currently an angry atheist, politically left leaning humanist. I try to live my life by the following principles:

Look after yourself
Be nice
Speak openly about what you believe, discuss with people
Try to do good [as defined by humanist principles rather than religion]
There are RIGHT answers and you can find them

Time to stop this particular stream of consciousness now. I will probably look back over this and try to make sense of it and maybe edit it. If this page is edited then I will use strike-through to show where that happens, apart from spelling and grammar mistakes. If I change my mind, it will be published.

November 1 2016October 13 2018

XJ823

This is the second communication in an occasional series about the Avro Vulcan there are other communications here and here. In January time I went inside XM655 and saw it was good. While in the Lake District recently I decided to sneak to Carlisle Airport and the Solway Aviation Museum. It was a foggy cool day, quite the opposite from the previous day when I had walked Helvellyn.

There were a couple of buildings with the usual paraphernalia nicely set out and some interesting stuff on the UK Space Programme and RAF Spadeadam. Outside the aircraft were nice but they do need to be inside, it’s a shame to see these beasts getting weathered, if only we had access to a warm dry boneyard.

The people running the museum were chatty and interesting. They pointed me to the Devil’s Porridge Museum which I will visit another time!

The photos would more more alive if the sun had shone a little! There were two planes which allowed access to the cockpits, the Canberra and the Sea Prince. The Sea Prince was used as a navigation trainer for the Royal Navy and that is why the seats in the cabin are set out that way.

There’s a certain smell that emanates from inside aircraft, a mix of oil, electrics and age.

Once I had toured these I was allowed to get inside the Vulcan which is always an enjoyable experience. I think people who make films about aircraft need to get in a real plane. They quite often make their planes with plenty of room to move around without realising the claustrophobic nature of cockpits.

If you are into aircraft then the Solway Aviation Museum is well worth a visit. Good value for money and the chance to get inside some of the planes.

October 30 2016August 14 2018

Helvellyn

On 28 October I decided, after reviewing the weather, that I would attempt to scale Helvellyn the third tallest mountain in England. By attempt I mean that I would either get to the top or turn around very quickly, there aren’t that many escape routes. I parked the beast in Glenridding and check my equipment. Then I sauntered purposefully towards Mires Beck. I had planned to contour around Birkhouse Moor but in retrospect I shouldn’t have because I will need to head back there to complete that fell.

At the Hole-In-The-Wall I chose the Striding Edge route. This was more ridge-like and climbing than I had expected and I made sure that I slowed down and was thinking through everything carefully. It was a long way down both sides to either Red Tarn or Nethermost Cove and it would hurt, a lot.

Striding Edge and Red Tarn with Helvellyn hidden.

Striding Edge was mostly clear but with quite a wind chill and the cloud base was above the ridge but below Helvellyn. Parts of this ridge were challenging and I was always aware that my phone didn’t really have any signal, there weren’t many other people out either. Once the ridge was completed I had to find a way up the last scramble to the top. I saw the memorial to the airmen who landed a plane on top of this plateau.

I had planned to walk back via a route near Raise, but chose to take the slightly shorter route down Swirral Edge and take in Catstye Cam. Had I stayed atop Helvellyn for about twenty minutes longer I would have had lovely clear weather up there. When I got to Catstye Cam the whole area was clear. After that it was a slog along good paths back to Glenridding.

While I was walking I realised two things. One, I don’t like uneven steps made of stones, I’m much happier taking many little steps along a smooth path. Two, my left knee doesn’t like going down hill. The second thing was more a memory than a new thought. I have done plenty of hill walking to know my physical limits.

Now I am tempted with completing all the Wainwrights. I have no idea how long it would take me.

Some additions:

I heard RAF jets on my ascent. But I didn’t see them. This is about the fifth time I’ve heard planes but not seen them. I should probably get to the Mach Loop sometime.

Here are my walking statistics for the day, although they don’t include any information about altitude:

October 24 2016October 17 2017

Rams Lose

Yesterday I sauntered to Twickenham. It was time to see another NFL match as part of the NFL International Series. Normally these matches are at Wembley but I was interested to see Twickenham as I had only been there once before for a Bon Jovi concert. I followed Google Maps all the way there, even though that meant going around the North Circular. Once I found the car park I had to allow security people [who I assume know what they are looking for but I doubt it] to look in the boot and under the bonnet of my car. These “security” steps annoy me as they aren’t evidence based.

Fuck having my car searched because I’m parking somewhere. Fuck you.

— Ian Parish (@iparish) October 23, 2016

Then I walked the short distance to the stadium and boy is it a fucking ugly stadium:

I waited for my ticket to arrive and had food. The pre-game show was performed by Craig David, it was shit. Then there was the national anthems and time for the annual “Jason having a moan at Ian” thing. I don’t stand for anthems. I don’t understand why I should. I also don’t get the patriotism associated with anthems. They annoy me. While it has nothing to do with the blacklivesmatter movement I’m not against their movement. I wrote some stuff here. I’ve probably written loads of stuff about my feelings towards patriotism but you can search for it yourself.

The match was interesting. Not the best one I’ve seen but good enough to justify the money I spent on the ticket!

In the final quarter we were hoping that the Rams would score and bring the game to a tie for overtime. That would have been quite exciting. But they threw an interception in to the end zone with about forty seconds to go. Such a shame, but a good afternoon anyway. I supported the Rams as I had previously when I saw them at Wembley. They are the first team I have seen twice. Also, Rich couldn’t be there and he’s a Rams fan so it made sense to support them. I would never support the Patriots. It is quite possible I have seen the Jaguars twice but the following should clear that up.

I am now going to attempt to log the games I have seen so that at least I have some form of record.

2008
San Diego Chargers @ New Orleans Saints [New Orleans won and are my team following this match]

2010
Denver Broncos @ San Francisco 49ers [49ers win]

2011 – I’m reasonably sure I saw the Bears this year, but am not sure.

2012
New England Patriots @ St Louis Rams [Patriots won – boo]

2013
San Francisco 49ers @ Jacksonville Jaguars [49ers won]

2014
Miami Dolphins @ Oakland Raiders [Dolphins won]
Detroit Lions @ Atlanta Falcons [Lions won]

2016
New York Giants @ LA Rams [Giants won]

October 22 2016October 17 2017

Lego 36 Model 60122

This is a lava splitting jewel finding machine, 60122:

October 7 2016October 17 2017

Psych

I recently completed watching the entire run of Psych. That might make it sound like I did a complete binge-watch of eight seasons but I have completed the show over seven years. I watched some on terrestrial TV, I recorded some from ITV4 and I also bought the DVDs when I got to the last four series.

After nearly seven years I have finished Psych. It’s helped me through kids, divorce and down times. Thanks guys. @DuleHill

— Ian Parish (@iparish) October 6, 2016

I have enjoyed the show thoroughly. It is well acted, written and photographed. I consider it a good use of my time. Like many of the TV shows I have loved it mixed developed characters with fun, jokes and seriousness. I even sat on my sofa and laughed out loud on occasions. Dulé Hill and James Roday were perfect in the lead roles and this is the second series I have watched with Dulé Hill, the previous being The West Wing, a show that left me with similar feelings to this one. Anyway, Mr Hill responded to my message:

@iparish 👊🏾 Boom

— Dulé Hill (@DuleHill) October 6, 2016

So this was a nice touch from someone who I assume is a nice person. However, I would also add that I have no wish to meet my heroes as they would all too easily disappoint.

In other news, but not new news, as this happened ages ago I got followed on Twitter by John Forbes Nash. Yes, that John Forbes Nash. I have no idea why he followed me or how he found me on Twitter. I was quite excited by this. I was also very saddened when he died in May 2015.

October 1 2016October 13 2018

Hidden Signs

While I may have gone on about the new bridge and road system around here a little bit that might indicate just how much the bridge changes things for what used to be a quite isolated part of Kent sandwiched between two major conurbations. I do think the new bridge will change that.

Part of the road changes that happened also mean a number of road speed limits have changed to reflect the expected increase in traffic and to reduce the risk of accident [I assume].

Here’s a map of the roads that had a previous limit of the national speed limit:

previous speed limits — Previous National Speed Limit

The newer safer speed limits have reduced the 60 zone down to the following:

This has kinda taken the “fun” out of driving these roads but I guess they are safer now and quite often people would dawdle along at 40 and then NOT slow down for the villages to 30 because they are wankers.

The construction company have put in new road signs but the one at the end of Bull Lane is obscured by branches until you get quite close. This picture shows the BEST view of the sign you get.

It’s only a safety thing. Let’s not worry.

October 1 2016

On Target

Just want to add a fooyah.net/wordpress communication to point out that this is a quality landing:

I did share this from the PS4 to my Twitter feed but the much bigger audience here deserves to see this neat not-crash as well.

October 1 2016

Deepwater Horizon

Popped over the river last night to see Deepwater Horizon. Use the new bridge. As is customary I rated this film on IMDB and you should see my guide to the rating system to get an idea of what the numbers mean. Otherwise you have no relative scale.

I rated Deepwater Horizon (2016) 6/10 #IMDb https://t.co/NLtlG2UZKI

— Ian Parish (@iparish) October 1, 2016

This film was quite enjoyable (?). While travelling to the cinema I was hoping that they would explain the mechanisms of oil exploration and also the culture of poor safety that lead to the explosion. I also wanted a cunning thriller with footage of inquiries mixed with the main story that I had seen in the trailers which was an action film. I just didn’t want a simple action film.

The film started with an explanation of why rigs get blowouts and some audio from the actual inquiry. This was a good start. The majority of the film was the action part of the film with some lovely shots of the Bristow helicopters flying out to the rig. The film showed the interplay between the BP officials and the workers of the people who owned the rig.

bristol copter

There was quite a bit of tension building with plenty of build up of the explosion that didn’t come. Then finally it happened and the race to escape the rig commenced. The action sequences were pretty good and the fire safety while filming must have been quite impressive.

Once the main action thrust of the film was over there was some short footage of the inquiry and a roll call of those who died in the explosion. Overall this film was ok. It could have been so much better by turning it into an investigation film with the action intercut with people figuring out what happened. I guess those films aren’t as exciting to modern audiences and probably don’t get made that often.

September 18 2016

Hell Or High Water

What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than watching a classic tale of cowboys robbing banks. But, I get ahead from myself. I went to the cinema. I watched a film. Possibly the best bit was using a new bridge to get there, see this communication. I had tweeted the following:

Normal trip to cinema (pre-bridge) was 14km. Will inform you of new distance.

— Ian Parish (@iparish) September 18, 2016

Well the new journey was about 11.5km. So it’s a shorter distance and has some lovely corners with adverse camber and brows of hills, however if you get stuck behind someone slow it’s incredibly boring. The normal route would include some motorway and nice accelerating corners, this new route was good as long as there’s no traffic.

I rated Hell or High Water (2016) 8/10 #IMDb https://t.co/nVZ1E8ttp3

— Ian Parish (@iparish) September 18, 2016

You should refer to this communication if you don’t know how my rating system works. This is the first 8/10 for quite a while! It was a good film.

The story was a classic cowboy story with two brothers robbing banks. The horses were replaced by cars but all the other elements were there. The music complimented the filming wonderfully and the acting was great. The pace was suitably relaxed. I really enjoyed it. There’s a lot to worry about with the modern audience if they can’t cope with a film of this pace. I’m not saying they can’t cope just that most films aren’t like this one. Perhaps modern superhero films could learn something from this film.

September 17 2016October 13 2018

Northwest Passage

The title of this communication does not refer to the more frequent sea passage in the Northwest of the globe. The fact that this passage is becoming a more regular occurrence should scare the fuck out of all of you. Anthropogenic Global Climate change is happening and the speed is increasing. The biggest problem is that all the damage has been done already. Because the effects are long term and not pleasant and will cost a fucking fortune to sort out it’s not the sort of thing politicians really want to talk about. As far as I can tell this planet is fucked. It isn’t going to get solved and our grandchildren will be suffering as a result of this. Fuck the self-interested assholes who “govern” the countries. Fuck them and the short-termism of politics.

The bit in the middle of the map, bounded by the river, the A229 and the two motorways is a lovely area to live in. I have written about it before see this communication. To get to Snodland, which the Post Office thinks is the best place to take my parcels, is a 9 or 12 mile journey ONE WAY. This is largely because of the river and the location of bridges over the river.

A new village is being built on brownfield site in the three villages area. There will soon be four in the valley. While I understand the need for more housing I do think the character of the valley villages is going to be ruined. Currently the villages are largely working class Victorian homes built for the workers of Burham Brick Works. There’s a certain look and feel to the villages. The brand new village will be large, expensive homes. My chip on my shoulder is back! I have found myself getting annoyed recently at the stratification of society and the problems that causes. Anyway, back to the journey to the post office lest this writing become another rant about the uselessness of politicians and the social engineering they mess with [along with fucking the planet].

Part of the deal for these new houses was a new bridge to be built. This will allow most of the traffic of the new village to not go past the junction to my village. But in reality that’s bullshit. What may happen is that the local country roads become over run with people cutting through along the bottom of the Downs. We shall see. My village is already planning a zebra crossing because of the expected extra traffic.

The new bridge is in place and opened recently. I drove over it this evening and took a photo. Already the road seems busier [anecdote and confirmation bias]. I will run that way tomorrow. Normally running along that stretch I would be passed by about 3-4 cars during the mile I am on that road. It will be interesting to see what happens. While I like the idea of the bridge I am not happy about what it means for those who live around here.

So I now have to spend the next few months behind non locals who think the road [at the split] is two way because they haven’t paid attention. My patience could be tested.

I will keep you chaps updated about what happens. I predict a serious crash at the Bull Lane / Pilgrims Way junction within a year and then traffic lights or a mini roundabout will be installed.

September 16 2016March 11 2017

Tracking

There’s nothing on at the cinema I want to see tonight so how about a picture of the aircraft I am currently tracking?

tracking

I don’t think it’s too bad. I’ve been working on port forwarding and things to try and see stuff outside my home network and it’s getting there.

This isn’t all the aircraft my receiver is getting signals from but it shows the aircraft with known positions, the ones that broadcast their GPS location.

September 11 2016October 13 2018

Micro Viewing

About a year ago a microscope came to be in my possession [legally] I might add. It needed a little work to make the light focusing platform to work properly but that was completed in July.

I also ordered some prepared slides with your standard introduction to looking at little things samples. It was pretty good looking through the microscope at these. What I want to do soon is get some blank slides and then cut stuff open to get my own samples for viewing. Here’s a photograph, taken through the view piece by placing the camera lens on top of the eye piece. I think it’s a photograph of a housefly leg.

I’m looking forward to seeing more of less of the world.